Livingstone to captain England with Buttler ruled out

Liam Livingstone and Jos Buttler — Image caption,

Liam Livingstone (left) has played 30 one-day internationals for England

Matthew Henry

BBC Sport Journalist

All-rounder Liam Livingstone will captain England during their white-ball tour of West Indies after Jos Buttler suffered a setback in his recovery from a calf injury.

Buttler, 34, has not played since the T20 World Cup in June and will miss the three one-day internationals in the Caribbean, although he remains in the squad for the five-match T20 series that follow.

Livingstone, 31, will lead England for the first time in the ODI series in Buttler’s absence.

It caps a remarkable turnaround for Livingstone who was initially left out of the ODI squad to play Australia last month before being called up to replace the injured Buttler.

The all-rounder, part of England’s T20 World Cup-winning squad in 2022, has captained Lancashire in the T20 Blast and Birmingham Phoenix in The Hundred.

England describe Buttler’s setback as “slight” but his injury is becoming increasingly worrying.

Despite not playing since England’s exit at the T20 World Cup, Buttler suffered his third calf injury since 2021 during the summer.

He was initially ruled out of The Hundred but, having been retained as captain, was picked in England’s squads to play Australia last month.

Buttler then pulled out of the T20 series because of the issue and targeted a return for the five ODIs, only to also withdraw.

Harry Brook captained England in the ODI series against Australia when Buttler was ruled out, but is not part of the squad for this tour due to his involvement in the Test tour of Pakistan.

England squad to play West Indies

Jos Buttler (Lancashire – captain) T20 series only, Jofra Archer (Sussex), Jacob Bethell (Warwickshire), Jafer Chohan (Yorkshire), Sam Curran (Surrey), Will Jacks (Surrey), Liam Livingstone (Lancashire), Saqib Mahmood (Lancashire), Dan Mousley (Warwickshire), Jamie Overton (Surrey), Adil Rashid (Yorkshire), Phil Salt (Lancashire), Reece Topley (Surrey), John Turner (Hampshire)

*Two further players to be added from Test squad currently in Pakistan.